By John Halamka MD – My assessment of the current Meaningful Use program and a proposal to better serve the needs of stakeholders. I’m likely going to violate many rules with this post. First, it’s over 1500 words, which is not ideal for social media. Second, there are many who will find my conclusions politically unpopular. I’m not criticizing people, I’m just commenting on ideas.
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By Anna Gorman – California and the federal government agreed in concept Saturday on a $6.2-billion deal to reform the Medicaid program and to help pay for care of the low-income population. The largest share of the funds – nearly $3.3 billion – is aimed at helping public hospitals improve the safety and quality of patient care.
By Gregory Ator MD – It is well known that healthcare is moving from volume to value – value defined as optimal outcomes for the least cost. And with some urgency, many organizations are trying to figure out how to successfully navigate this transition.
By Julie Rovner – Medicine, meet Big Data. For generations, physicians have been trained in basic science and human anatomy to diagnose and treat the individual patient. But now, massive stores of data about what works for which patients are literally changing the way medicine is practiced.
By Bennett Lauber – In the classic Alfred Hitchcock film “Rope,” Hitchcock shot continuous scenes for periods lasting up to 10 minutes (the length of the film camera magazine), continuously panning from actor to actor, though most shots in the film wound up being shorter.
By Andy Slavitt – Recently, prescription drugs have been in the news a lot, particularly with respect to their cost. Millions of Americans rely on prescription medications to manage chronic illnesses or treat acute conditions, and drug innovation has resulted in better health outcomes for people across our nation.
By William Hyman – A prevailing feature of Meaning Use (MU) is that certain things must be done by or with the EHR. Even if we assume that at least some of these dictated things are in fact important, the need to do them within or from the EHR has replaced the merit of simply doing them.
By Elizabeth H. Bradley, Amanda Brewster & Leslie Curry – Many people, particularly older patients, are readmitted soon after being discharged from the hospital. These unexpected return visits are expensive and challenging for patients and their families, and costly for Medicare. Nearly 20 percent of Medicare beneficiaries experience an unplanned hospital readmission, with an estimated cost to the American public of about $26 billion per year.
By Dana Tee – The other day, I was sitting in my doctor’s office as she pulled up my patient profile on her computer and started typing away. It seemed like a normal visit – and in most ways it was. However, a few things were missing. There was not a single folder, pen, pencil, or piece of paper to be seen – the sterile room was completely digitized.